The World Bank Citizen Security Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean Rodrigo Serrano-Berthet has revealed in a report by the World Bank that even though the Latin American and the Caribbean regions possess only nine percent of the world's population, almost one of every three murders globally are committed there. According to the report, thirty percent of the world's homicides occur in these two regions, adding that of the fifty cities around the world that has the highest homicide rates, forty two of those cities are in Latin America including the top sixteen. Berthet says that the report indicates that Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala make up the countries with the highest murder rates in Central America; Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil rank highest in South America; and in the Caribbean, Belize and Jamaica are the worst.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), there were over 27,000 homicides in Mexico in 2011. Brazil experienced an even worse year, with over 42,000 murders. Despite Serrano-Berthet ranking Belize up high, the UNODC report shows Belize only suffered 124 homicides in 2011, while the Dominican Republic actually had the highest in 2011 with 2,500 murders. According to the report, other areas of concern to Latin Americans, such as inflation, poverty and unemployment, have improved but by contrast, the incidence of crime and violence has not changed in recent decades, and remains at very high levels, much higher than in other regions.

LOVEFM